Grab for a toy crane

ABSTRACT

A grab for a toy crane is provided with two two-armed levers having a common axis of rotation. Portions of the levers overlap each other at the axis of rotation about which the levers are mutually hinged at at least two places. Each lever has a first arm and a second arm which are mutually contiguous solely on one side of a central plane of the grab perpendicular to the axis of rotation.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention concerns a grab for a toy crane, said grab having twotwo-armed levers adapted to grip an object by mutual movement abovetheir axis of rotation, said levers being hinged at at least two placesalong their axis of rotation.

The DE Patent 833 169 discloses such a grab which is suspended from acrane arm in two separate cords. The grab can be raised and lowered withoperating means on the crane with simultaneous rolling up or rolling outof both cords, and the grab can be closed or opened by shortening orextending one of the cords with respect to the other. This known grabrequires a separate cord for its opening/closing function and cannottherefore be retained in a closed state without this separate cord.

Also U.S. Pat. No. 2,166,854 shows such a crane grab, but whose jawshave suspension points outside their common pivot shaft, and the jawsare connected in these points with a common, carrying cord. Another cordis connected with the pivot shaft, and the jaws of the grab can beopened and closed by different pull in these cords. However, the jaws ofthe grab have no mutually intersecting parts like in the presentinvention.

GB 619 367 shows a toy crane with a grab whose parts intersect eachother in a common fulcrum, and these parts are just hinged in thissingle fulcrum.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a grab which is inexpensive to produce,is functional and is realistic in use.

It is first and foremost possible to manufacture the two two-armedlevers of the grab as identical parts, which is an advantage in terms ofproduction. Further, it is hereby possible to let the two leversintersect each other seen in projection along the axis of rotation, sothat their mutual movement about the axis of rotation will be ascissors-like movement. This movement makes it possible to use thegravitational pull from the object which the grab carries to intensifythe grip of the grab of the object, which can hereby be retained safelyby the grab at any time.

When the hinges are constructed as integrated parts of the levers, anadditional productional advantage is obtained since no separate shaft orother hinge device is needed.

The grab of the invention lends itself for use with a crane where aU-shaped loop on an endless cord carries the grab.

The gripping face of the grab, which is advantageously so constructed asto provide relatively great friction between the gripping face of a graband the objects which is gripped.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A preferred embodiment of the invention will be described below withreference to the drawing, in which

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a grab of the invention carrying anobject,

FIG. 2a shows the two halves of the grab of FIG. 1, seen from the side,

FIG. 2b shows the assembled grab, seen from the side,

FIG. 3a shows the two halves of the grab, seen from above, and

FIG. 3b shows the assembled grab, seen from above.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

A grab 10 consists of two identical halves 11 preferably made ofplastics. Each half 11 has a gripping member 12 formed as a rectangularplate. Two substantially box-shaped parts 13 and 14 are provided fromthe upper edge of the gripping member 12, said parts extending mutuallyin parallel at a certain distance from each other and forming an anglewith the gripping member 12 which is approximately a right or a slightlyobtuse angle. The inner side of the gripping members 12 is formed with apart 19 which has ribs 20 on the part of its face which is directed awayfrom the gripping member 12. The part 19 is preferably made of rubber oranother material having a relatively great coefficient of friction.

From the free end of the box-shaped part 14, a bracket 15 extendsfurther forwardly and offset toward the other box-shaped part 13. Thebracket 15 carries two uprights 23 which have depressions 22 at the topserving as bearings for the shaft 21 of a pulley 16.

An incision 24 is provided at the free end of the box-shaped part 14,said incision being defined by a flap 25 at one side. The flap 25carries a circular projection 17 on the side of it which faces inwardlytoward the incision 24. The other box-shaped part 13 is formed with aprojecting flap 26 having on its outwardly facing face a circulardepression 18 with dimensions enabling the projection 17 to fit in it.The flap 26 has a thickness so as to fit in the incision 24.

As mentioned, the assembled grab 10 consists of two uniform halves 11.FIG. 2a shows how the two halves 11 are placed one above the otherbefore being assembled. During assembly, the central brackets 15 of therespective halves 11 are moved up and down, respectively, into the gapbetween the box-shaped parts 13 and 14 of the opposite part 11, and theflaps 26 are passed into the incisions 24. When the flap 26 touches theprojection 17 on the flap 25, it will flex outwardly owing to theflexible properties of the material and open the incision 24 so that theflap 26 can be completely engaged with the incision 24. When thedepression 18 on the flap 26 is opposite the projection 17 on the flap25, the flap 25 moves resiliently backwards, and the projection 17retains the two parts 11 with respect to each other by snap cooperationwith the depression 18.

Thus, the flaps 25 with the projections 17 and the flaps 26 with thedepressions 18 define a hinge with an axis of rotation through the twopairs of projections 17 and depressions 18 in engagement with eachother, so that the two parts 11 of the grab can perform a mutualmovement about the axis of rotation thus defined.

The pulleys 16 has a peripheral depression or groove 27 disposed in thecentral plane of the assembled grab perpendicular to the axis ofrotation through the hinge elements 17, 18, 18, 17.

FIG. 1 shows how the grab 10 is suspended in a cord 28 forming aU-shaped loop and being engaged with both pulleys 16. The grab 10 gripsan object 29, with the ribs 24 on the gripping faces engaging the object29, which is retained owing to the friction between the ribs and theupper face of the object 29.

The cord 28 exerts a pull in both pulleys 16, and the central bracket 15with the pulley 16 constitutes one arm of a two-armed lever for each ofthe parts 11, while the box-shaped part 14 constitutes the other arm.The cord 28, when pulling the pulleys 16, will thus cause the assembledgrab 10 to grip the object 29.

In the shown embodiment, the rubber parts 19 with ribs 20 are adapted togrip the object 29 and retain it by means of friction between the ribs20 and the surface of the object 29, the part 19 may also be providedwith means in the form of projections and/or recesses adapted to engagecorresponding complementary parts on the object 29, which is thenretained by purely mechanical means and not by friction.

We claim:
 1. A grab for a toy crane, comprising two, two-armed levers,said levers having a common axis of rotation and arranged to overlap soas to engage in a releasable, rotatable snap-fit connection with eachother at the axis of rotation, said arms being mutually hinged at atleast two points along the axis of rotation, wherein each levercomprises a first arm and a second arm each said lever comprisingengagement means to engage suspension means from a toy crane, said armsof each lever being contiguous essentially on one side of a centralplane of the grab which is perpendicular to said axis whereby the grabis adapted to grip an object by mutual movement of the levers about theaxis of rotation.
 2. A grab according to claim 1, characterized in thatthe hinges are constructed as integral parts (25, 17; 26, 18) ofrespective ones of the levers.
 3. A grab according to claim 2,characterized in that each lever has hinge parts (26, 24; 17, 18)mutually complementary in pairs for cooperation with the correspondinghinge parts of the other lever.
 4. A grab according to claim 1,characterized in that the engagement means is adapted to hang in aU-shaped loop on an endless cord (28).
 5. A grab according to claim 4,characterized in that both levers are adapted to cooperate with the cord(28).
 6. A grab according to claim 4, characterized in that theengagement means cooperates freely movably with the cord (28).
 7. A grabaccording to claim 6, characterized in that each of the levers has apulley (16) for cooperation with a cord (28) from a toy crane.
 8. A grabaccording to claim 1, characterized in that each lever features agripping face (12) with a friction increasing part (19).
 9. A grabaccording to claim 8, characterized in that the gripping faces has afriction increasing shape (20).
 10. A grab according to claim 1,characterized in that its two-armed levers (11) are constructed assubstantially identical parts.